Saturday, January 22, 2011

SATURDAY ....... INCEY STILL THE GUV'NOR


Notts County- Carlisle United

I cannot let County go unbacked, they have served us well in recent weeks and come into this game along with Southampton, as the two form teams of the division. Paul Ince has done terrific business in the loan markets over the last two months and arguably even better trading this week, with the loan extentions and permanent transfers which have kept Alan Judge (Blackburn) and Stephen Darby ( Liverpool) at the club, he has lost Ben Davies to Derby, but did a deal with the Rams to take Dave Martin on loan. Martin is a player I like a lot and whilst he has struggled to make his mark in the Championship, he is capable of running third tier defences ragged and should benefit from a change of scenery. Carlisle arrive here with on the back of a 4-0 thumping of Huddersfield Town in midweek a JPT win which has virtually booked a trip to Wembley later in the year and whilst that makes eight goals in a week for them, they all came on home soil and United are far from prolific on the road and with injuries at the club and options for rotations limited, they are bound to be a little leggy today. County have had a free week to recharge batteries an prepare for this, home win and nice odds.

Notts County -0.5 2.10


Peterborough United - Hartlepool United

Darren Ferguson has had his feet under a very familiar desk for almost two weeks now on his return as Boro boss. He has some talent at his disposal here, most of the squad know how to get out of this division and are happy with the coaching change, Ferguson will be busy in the loan market in the next ten days and has already addressed the Posh defensive problems by adding Tom Kennedy and Grant Basey to the squad, two experienced and versatile defenders, Kennedy especially will help solve the left sided problems which have cost Posh dear this season. Hartlepool's golden run is well and truly over and their striking problems have come home to roost with just one goal and one point in four starts, until they address this problem and they have been looking, I do not see them troubling too many defences, especially on the road and I expect Ferguson's homecoming to end with three points.

Peterborough -0.5 1.89


Wycombe Wanderers - Rotherham United

I know that I keep on about this left hand side of defence, but it is a big problem for a lot of teams, who struggle to fill this position, if I was a Wycombe fan ( thank goodness I am not) that position would give me nightmares and any team with pace at front is going to give them trouble if the have done their homework. I saw Hereford run them ragged twice in as many months at Adams Park in cup and league and the problem is worse here, when Wanderers are more adventurous and get exposed, they have ridden their luck time and time again in the league, not been so lucky in the cup, conceding six at home to Bristol Rovers, who have not won in ten outings since ! United are a better team in my opinion, have created 47 more attempts on target this season, which is a huge number btw and they look a far more likelier candidate for automatic promotion candidate than the home side.

Rotherham United +0.25 1.96

Good Luck.

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